A female maintenance worker at a California prison has sued the corrections department, alleging discrimination and harassment by her former boss because of her gender.

A resident of Elk Grove, 59-year-old Pam Payne filed a lawsuit against former manager Phil Albee stating that he made her work life miserable, jeopardized workers’ safety and wasted a lot of money in the process. The lawsuit was filed against the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in Sacramento County Superior Court.

Payne alleged that she was passed over for a promotion. Albee’s treatment and harassment caused her emotional and psychological distress, she is seeking compensation to reimburse for lost wages and benefits along with damages for her sufferings.

In her statement, she mentioned that she hopes that her lawsuit will draw attention to the treatment handed out to women working in male-dominated environments of the prisons.

In his defence now retired Albee stated that he had always treated all his employees fair and equally and refuted the charges levelled against him.

Payne started her job in 2014 as a building trade’s supervisor at California Health Care Facility in Stockton. After few weeks of starting she assigned a simple task to her employees to number the fleet of electric golf carts owned by the Prison.

The staff were happy with the decision as it would make it easy for them to find their cart. Albee was unhappy and told Payne, “You do not make decisions without checking with me first. We don’t pay you to think.”

Albee got the numbers removed. A few years later when a male employee made the same suggestion of numbering the carts, Albee said it was a great idea and got the numbers back on the cart. Payne stated that there were many other instances where she faced discrimination at the hands of Albee.

Spokeswoman Dana Simas stated in an email that CDCR is committed to having a work environment free from any form of discrimination and/or harassment and where everyone is treated with respect. As it was pending litigation they would not be able to comment specifically regarding the case.

Discrimination occurs in an organization or any workplace when any employee or job applicant is treated less favourably because of certain specific characteristic they have.

Gender discrimination at workplaces is an area of legal concern, the law in California and federal laws direct all employers to give equal opportunities to all their employees irrespective of their gender. Yet there are many instances where women are discriminated against by their coworkers because of their gender.

Some of the most common examples of Gender Discrimination at the workplace are:

  • Not hiring a candidate or promoting an employee because of their gender
  • Job termination of an employee because of gender
  • A woman employee is overlooked for a position in the company and a new manager is hired from outside having similar qualification and experience as the woman employee.
  • Female employees not being allowed to add their husbands to their health insurance provided by the company, whereas male employees can add their wives to the insurance.

Fighting the fight against Gender Discrimination

Over the last several years Khashan Law firm has been fighting for the rights of victims of gender discrimination at the workplace. We very well understand how important it is for the victim to expose the unlawful activities and discrimination carried out by the employer.

Contact us at (951) 461-2387 for a free, confidential consultation. We have successfully represented a number of victims in class action and individual lawsuits in cases of gender discrimination. We will work hard to seek justice for you in getting the best compensation possible for your losses and sufferings.